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From the Grounds Up
by Tom Smith and Tom Pfeifer
Editor's Note: This is the first installment of a regular column for ICFM by Tom Smith and Tom Pfeifer of Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum in Cincinnati, Ohio, famous for its beautiful and well maintained grounds. Smith, senior vice president, and Pfeiffer, grounds manager, are well known in the industry for their willingness to share tips gleaned from overseeing one of the country's premier cemetery properties. Although Spring Grove is a large, historic cemetery, Smith and Pfeifer promise their advice will be geared toward properties of all sizes, ages and budgets. In fact, many of their tips will show you how to get more done with less money.
Don't Bag Those Leaves, Mulch Them
WHAT: If you still rake leaves, or use a blower to round them up, it's time to consider turning them into mulch instead. Some people say, "You'll kill the grass if you don't get the leaves off it," but if you mulch them properly, it's no problem. In fact, today's mulching mowers discharge particles so small they're almost fingernail-sized. There's no way that's going to bother existing turf. We've been doing this the past 10 years, and we're very happy with our mulching operation.
WHY: Good stewardship of the land. This is what nature does. No one is raking up the dead leaves off the forest floor. The leaves decompose, they add to the organic matter, they recycle nutrients right back into the woods. By mulching leaves and leaving them on the grass, we are doing the same thing -- redistributing the organic matter back where it came from.
Spend less on fertilizer. Maybe your budget won't allow you to fertilize general turf areas. If you recycle the leaves into mulch, that's another way of putting fertilizer back into lawn areas. Improving soil quality this way is just a good environmental principle.
Easy to do. There's been a big change in the grounds management industry in the past decade. Equipment companies are aware that in many places you can't just set out unlimited bags of grass or leaves for the city to pick up and take to the landfill. Every company now makes mulching blades for their mowers.
Cut labor costs. We used to have to double our crew size, using 25 to 30 guys to pick the leaves up in Spring Groves' 430 acres of developed property, working from the middle of October to the end of December. We used these big vacuum trucks to suck up the leaves and deposit them in a special area on our property. Now we can handle the mulching with our regular mower crew, 10 to 14 guys, who blow the leaves away from the markers and flower beds and mulch them with the riding mowers.
Good public relations. When you've perfected your method, get the word out. Let the public know you're being a good steward of the land. Homeowners need guidance in this area, and who better to give them professional advice about grounds management than those of us in the cemetery industry?
HOW: Use a mulching mower or a mulching deck. If you don't have a mulching mower and your budget doesn't allow for buying one right now, there are ways to close down the discharge chutes on mowers to make them "pseudo-mulchers." That might not be as great as having a new mulching mower, but it will do the basic job of holding the leaf matter under the deck longer so it can be shredded into smaller pieces before being distributed back on the lawn.
There are blades to put on old mowers that will work well even if it's not a certified mulching mower. Unless you're using something from 25 years ago, we think you'll be able to find a mulching kit for your mowers.
WHEN: You can't be a couch potato and say, "I'm not going to mulch any leaves until the last leaf is off that tree" -- that would be one of the worst things you could do! Continue your regular mowing schedule.
By mid-October, we start putting our mulching blades on. Most of our mowers are the riding variety, 60- and 74-inch, all with mulching decks and blades on them. Our mowing season is extended by about five weeks; by early December, we're finished.
We keep the mulching attachments on for the first couple of cuts in the spring, to get any leaves that came down late in the season. If it snowed before we could get the last leaves up -- no problem, get them in the spring.
Try to mow when the leaves are dry. The best days for mulching tend to be October afternoons when it's 70 degrees outside, the sky is blue, the leaves are coming down and are kind of crunchy, which means they'll break up right away. Early in the morning when they're kind of dewy they don't fracture as easily.
When it's raining, it's a good time to prepare for the mulching by blowing leaves out of ornamental beds, off grave markers and onto the lawn.
Copyright ICFA 2002
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